To Each Their Due
by dogger807
Summary: A short little one shot where Harry receives help from an unexpected source.


{{ A/N:: I just thought this up and thought I'd write it down since it was pestering me. }}

Frustrated that he was once again called upon to do the impossible, Harry had been roaming through the midnight halls of Hogwarts. As was his custom, he was wearing his invisibility cloak to avoid confrontations and ensure his privacy. Recently, he had won the memory Dumbledore requested from Professor Slughorn, and was in the process of coming to terms with the new information.

Stopping in an alcove, he leaned against the wall and said exasperatedly, "How am I supposed to stop a madman with multiple horcruxes?"

The question had been rhetorical and Harry hadn't been expected a reply. Surprise claimed him when his question was answered by another. "Horcruxes?" The fact that the reply wasn't a sound was also very concerning. In fact, the query came more as a thought in his mind and if Harry hadn't been familiar with the sorting hat, he might have thought he had just gone crazy.

"Who's there?" Harry immediately thought loudly in his own mind.

"I'm here." a thought was returned as an answer. "I am not here."

"That doesn't make any bloody sense." Harry gritted his teeth, sending the thought into his own head, "Who are you? What are you?"

"I am nothing." The foreign consciousness told him, "She made me from nothing and nothing I remain."

"If your nothing, how can you talk?" Harry asked.

"She made me." came the reply.

"Where are you?" Harry tried a different avenue of attack.

"On you."

Harry took a quick mental inventory of his possessions and could think of nothing new, so unless Dobby had slipped him a new pair of magical socks that last statement was probably a lie.

"Where on me?" Harry asked

"All on you."

"Yes, but where are you all on me?" Harry resisted the urge to stamp his foot in frustration.

"I cover all of you." The consciousness insisted

"What are you, some kind of magical body lotion someone slipped into my shampoo?" Harry settle more snuggly into his cloak, hoping to avoid whatever it was that was trying to communicate.

"I am nothing."

"Well," Harry thought snidely, "Nothing, do you have a name?"

There was a noticeable pause before a statement was returned, "This nothing has been called 'the cloak of invisibility'."

Abruptly, Harry stopped trying to hide more effectively and said out loud, "Of course, only I could try hiding in the very thing I'm hiding from. Why haven't you spoken before now?"

"You said the word. A word she hates." was his only answer.

"And?' Harry ask impatiently.

"You are called upon to fulfill the pact of your birthright."

"Lovely," Harry muttered, "more obligations. How am I supposed to do that?"

"Go to the one who is hidden and say the words."

"Words? What words?" Harry was getting frustrated, "Am I going to have to dig for every bloody piece of information? Do you know what a paragraph is?"

"A paragraph is a distinct portion of written or printed matter dealing with a particular idea, usually beginning with an indentation on a new line." the cloak answered.

Harry waited for the cloak to continue.

Then he waited some more.

Finally, he sighed, "What words am I supposed to say?"

"Mors: omnia tamen ille qui videt me absocondam a vobis."

"You expect me to pronounce that, yet alone memorize it?" Harry's frustration was only increasing.

"When the time comes, you will."

"What exactly do you mean by 'the one who is hidden'?" Harry backtracked.

"The begetter of the horcrux."

"You realize the bloke is trying to kill me?" Harry asked.

"He cannot sense you when you utilize me."

"Bullocks!" Harry thought violently, "Dumbledore looks right at me when I'm wearing you. Voldemort isn't that much less powerful."

"Dumbledore cannot sense you when you utilize me."

"Then how does he always know where I am?" Harry asked.

"He has placed potential on me, he senses that potential."

"What?" Harry asked in amazement, "He's got you tagged with a tracking charm?"

"He has placed potential on us both."

"Bloody hell," Harry snapped, "How am I going to get that off?"

"I can remove his potential."

"Could you remove all of his potential from us both?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes." The cloak replied

Harry waited.

Sighing he tried again, "Could you remove all of his potential from us both?"

"Yes."

Harry waited.

"Can't you just volunteer anything?" Harry's frustration was returning.

"No."

"Well," Harry thought, "That explains that."

"Yes." The cloak answered.

Growling Harry said, "Would you remove all of his potential from us both?"

"It is done." The cloak said, it's task complete.

Suddenly, Harry felt stronger. It was as if he had access to more magical power. Furthermore, his thoughts ran more fluidly that he could ever recall.

Worse he remembered things. He remembered all the times Dumbledore had removed his memories when Harry had learned something that had gone against the ancient wizards plans. He remembered he promised himself never to trust the headmaster again. He remembered why he made that promise.

"Can you automatically remove his potential from me whenever I put you on?" Harry asked the cloak.

"Yes."

Harry paused and then showed that he was indeed thinking clearer, "Would you automatically remove his potential from me whenever I put you on?"

"It shall be done."

Harry sat in silence for a few minutes as he pondered what he was remembering, the fact that he seemed to have access to much more magic, and the other little things Dumbledore didn't want him to know. He was sure he didn't have a complete list, but he was also sure that he needed to be out from under Dumbledore's control. He and Hermione were going to transfer to Beauxbaton immediately.

"You are called upon to fulfill the pact of your birthright." the cloak thought at him after a few minutes.

"Wait, I thought you couldn't volunteer anything." Harry thought back.

"You are called upon to fulfill the pact of your birthright." The cloak repeated.

"I don't even know where he is." Harry protested

"You have experienced his presence," The cloak responded, "Go to him."

"How?" Harry asked.

"She made me." The cloak responded, "Go to him."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Harry snarled out loud, "Just think of him strongly and poof?... Oh, Bloody hell!" Harry fervently wished he hadn't removed the cloak from the top of his head while he had been thinking in the alcove. As it was there was as much surprise in his own eyes as there was in the blood red eyes of his nemesis.

"Harry Potter." The pale hideous mockery of a man hissed at him after only a brief pause, "I see you have found a way past the wards. Pity for you. I suppose you had some vague notion that you could end me easily."

A quick glance around showed Harry that he was no longer in Hogwarts. He was in someone's lavish bedroom. That someone was currently standing not more than two feet away from him, pointing a wicked looking wand in his direction.

"Um…. Malfoy manor?" Harry offered as a way of explanation.

"Of course, though that is of no importance." the wand never wavered, "any last words?"

"Say them." The cloak whispered into Harry's mind.

"Um, yeah." Harry stared defiantly at his foe and the words "Mors: omnia tamen ille qui videt me absocondam a vobis." escaped his lips.

Or they might have been, "Muerte, veo a alguien que intenta esconderte de ti."

Or they might have been, "Mort, je vois quelqu'un qui tente de te cacher."

Posibly even, "الموت، أرى من يحاول إخفاءك"

Certainly they were, "Ukufa, ngibona umuntu ozama ukufihla kuwe."

But mostly Harry was sure they were, "Death, I see one who attempts to hide from you."

They were all this and more. Billions of languages, most not of this world. They were all this and they were nothing.

"Was that supposed to impress me?" Voldemort snarled dismisivly as he tried to comprehend what he had just heard.

"I don't think that was his intention." A female's voice off to the left of Voldemort said.

Reflexively , Voldemort spun and barked, "Avada Kedavra."

An evil green spell leap from his wand and connected with the chest of the small woman who had appeared out of nowhere. She was a petite and beautiful thing. Her black tank top was almost the same shade as her wild hair. Her pale skin was a stark contrast to her mane and she wore too much eyeliner.

Briefly, she looked down at the spot where the spell had connected then looked at Voldemort, "Really? Are you serious?"

Astonished, Voldemort gathered his breath to say something, but she raised a hand and said, "Wait a minute, hold that thought." Turning to Harry she continued, "Okay, I have it from here. While it's always good to see one of my descendants, I think we should wait and talk later. Why don't you head back to your school for now?"

"He's not going anywhere." Voldemort snarled, but Harry was already gone. Turning back to the woman he said,"Just who do you think you are? I am the most powerful wizard for generations and I will not be trifled with."

"Honestly, Tom, weren't you paying attention?" The woman tilled her head slightly as she contemplated the monstrosity before her.

"You will address me as Lord Voldemort!" He shouted at her.

"No," she said, "I don't suppose I will. Though, all things considered, it is excessively ironic."

"Diffindo!" Was Voldemort's reply to this impudent hussy.

Once again the woman looked at her chest then back at Voldemort, "Really?"

Voldemort stopped playing around, cast fiendfyre then apparated away to another of his hideouts.

"Don't you think the Malfoys are going to be rather upset over the loss of their home." The woman asked from the chair where she had been sitting waiting for Voldemort, "It was rather rude of you to set it ablaze then teleport away like that."

"You dare?" Voldemort seethed aiming his wand at the woman, "Do you know who I am?"

"Yes, you are Tom Marvolo Riddle. " She said unimpressed, "Or at least what's left of him. After splitting your soul so many times, well even that is a half truth. Closer to one over two fifty sixth of a truth."

"I will not suffer your insolence." Voldemort snarled, "Crucio!"

"Really?" the woman ignoring Voldemort said producing a ring from somewhere," just look what you did to this." She popped the stone out of the ring setting tossing the gold band over her shoulder. She lightly shook the object and Voldemort felt his creation being torn asunder.

"Aaaargggh!" Voldemort screamed, "Diffindo! Diffindo! Confringo! Expulso! Icarcerous!"

"I was sitting in that chair." The woman said dusting herself off and producing a goblet, "can't you show a little courtesy, I'll get to you soon enough." Whith that she shook the goblet and Voldemort felt another horcrux die.

Howling in fury, Voldemort apperated once again.

The woman was sitting on the bed holding a tira when he got there.

Without a word, he apperated yet again.

She was waiting for his arrival, sitting there with a locket.

Another crack of apparition and there she was with her arm stuck down the throat of a very large snake.

"This one is rather gross." She informed him when he appeared.

"You insufferable wench!" Voldemort screeched, "I shall destroy you!"

"Temper. Temper," she said withdrawing her arm from the snake with a sickening slurping sound, "I'll just get the last bit you left in Harry later." The snake, mortified, slithered away as quickly as it could manage.

"Do you know what you have done?" Voldemort howled.

"Yes," she said, "hate those things. They make my eyes skip unless I'm concentrating. They're one of the few things I'll make an exception for."

"Whatever are you babbling about." Voldemort once again leveled his wand at the woman.

"Are you going to try that again?" she asked, visibly amused.

Voldemort quickly grasped the pendant around his neck and uttered the activation phrase. The Portkey deposited him a remote cottage in France.

"This is quaint." The woman said from her spot on the couch, "I like it. By the way, this new method of travel is significantly slower than your last."

"Expulso! Reducto! Reducto! Stupefy!" Voldemort replied.

"Seriously, what do you have against me sitting down?" The woman asked from amidst the rubble.

"Don't think you have beaten me!" with a crack, Voldemort was gone once again.

In a small cave in Germany he shrieked, "How are you following me?"

She shrugged, "Can I help it that I'm already there when you get there?"

*Crack*

"Yup, I'm there too."

*Crack*

"and there"

*Crack*

"Here also."

*Crack*

"Oooo… this is nice."

*Crack*

"You know, for someone who has chosen a name meaning fleeing, you're not very good at this."

*Crack*

"Aren't you getting tired yet?"

*Crack*

"Now you're just being silly."

*Crack*

"I'm starting to lose my patience, Tom."

*Crack*

"Okay, enough is enough."

Voldemort tried to apparate once again and found he couldn't. Instead he leveled his wand once again.

"You have tenacity, I'll give you that." The woman said ignoring the wand, "but make no mistake, in the end. I always win."

* * *

Somewhere in Albania, a peasant awoke in a field. He did not remember how he got there. The last thing he remembered was a mad man pointing a stick at him.

* * *

Somewhere in the Forest of Dean, a young woman awoke. She did not remember how she got there, but she knew she should hurry home.

* * *

In an old decrepit manor, a man awoke. He had been in the drawing room with his family when a young man had burst into the room. Now he was lying on the floor and there was dust everywhere. What had happened?

* * *

Hepzibah Smith awoke on the floor of her sitting room. Someone had changed the furniture, and there was a strange family staring down at her in surprise.

* * *

In yet another location of Albania, Bertha Jorkins rose weakly from the wet ground and wondered how she had gotten there.

* * *

In Hogwarts, on a cold Bathroom floor, a girl awoke. She looked around, well acquainted with her surroundings. Then she looked at her own solid hands in wonder.

* * *

She awoke and pushed the strands of red hair out of her face. Looking around she saw that the bedroom had been decimated. Worse, it looked like it had been ravaged by time. But that didn't matter. Her husband! No. Wait! Her son! Where was her son!


End file.
